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Alphabet heads for $700 billion market cap after earnings

Google parent company Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, +2.93%GOOG, -0.08% reached record price levels in after-hours trading Thursday and could top a $700 billion market capitalization if it holds the gains through Friday's trading session. Shares gained about 3% in late trading after the internet company announced third-quarter earnings that easily beat expectations Thursday afternoon. The stock would need a 3% gain for Alphabet to become just the second U.S. company after Apple Inc. AAPL, +0.64% to achieve a $700 billion market cap, after ending Thursday's regular session at $679.6 billion, according to FactSet. If Alphabet accomplishes the feat Friday, it would have been only 131 days since the company first topped $600 billion, according to the WSJ Market Data Group, which would make it the fastest $100 billion market-cap gain on record. Alphabet's Class A shares have already gained 25.1% so far this year, while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.13% has increased 14.4%.